Janica frantically flipped the pages of the old ritual book she bought, looking for the right back before she began.
What page is it? Was it- Ah!
She landed on the page with the headline “Body Swap" and let out a deep sigh. Tonight was the night. She had studied, she had prepared her body, her offering and now all she needed was to place everything neatly on the altar and face the mirror. She began with her offering of flesh, a dead rat she found downstairs by the dumpster. She hoped she didn’t really need to kill this creature and placed him on the altar.
She then moved on to the loc of hair, although she was unsure if this was really the hair of the person she intended. Gym bathrooms can be quite messy, but any of the ladies would do.
She took a deep breath and removed the blanket that covered the mirror behind her altar. Well really, it was just her vanity dresser, but same thing. She covered her cheeks in the blood of the rat and lit a few candles.
Oh-? It’s supposed to be eight candles? I only have six.. It’ll have to do.
She thought to herself as she finished lighting the last candle. All she needed to do now was say the chant and face the mirror, and then she would finally have swapped bodies with one of those athletes in the locker room. No longer will she mop up floors, or clean dirty toilets. No, the janitor life was never meant for her. She was meant to be a fit, hot, rich athlete.
“If my mom had never permed my hair as a child that life could’ve already been mine.” She angrily grumbled under her breath. “But no more, no more will I be starved from the life I deserve.”
She began chanting, waving her arms wildly in a circular motion above her head.
“Ah cha la to ah cha cha la ya to ya lo” she repeated this chant loudly in her room. A low grumble shook her apartment as she continued chanting, getting loud with each repetition. “AH CHA LA TO AH CHA LA YA TO YA LOOOO!” her candles began flickering lightly as she smiled.
She heard a loud thump above her head.
“Hey! Shut up down there! Some of us have work in the morning! Give it a rest already!” Her neighbor upstairs clearly wasn’t a fan, but Janica continued. She knew what she wanted and she was going to get it tonight.
“AH CHA LA TO AH CHA LA YA TO YA LOOOO! MIND YOUR BUSINEEEESS!” She threw in that last bit for her neighbor who clearly didn’t understand the importance of what she was doing.
“God, you’re the worst kind of person!” They angrily yelled from upstairs but seized their banging.
Janica smirked and continued her chant. After another few chants she thought her throat had become sore. She began lightly coughing, and then harshly coughing. Before she could react, black bile projected from her mouth, splattering across the mirror and leaking on the floor. She attempted to cover her mouth but more continued to come. Was this a part of the spell? Is this a part of the body transfer? She got on her knees and placed her hands on the floor as her vision started to blur. She saw stars, horns, flames and then darkness.
After what felt like a few hours she woke up, but something was very different. Her body felt heavier? No, not heavier. Oddly shaped. Something was wrong. She sat up to look in the mirror, but there was no mirror. She was no longer in her small apartment bedroom, but a fleshy room with moving walls. The single door to the room had bars on it where bright red light streamed into the room. She could hear screams and yelling distantly from outside the door.
She looked at her hands, which were now claws. Large black nails protruded from skin. Oh, but her skin. It was all sorts of orange, reddish, covered in scales and a few large boils clung to her skin.
“What the hell!? What am I? Where am I?” She said in shaking breaths, which made her realize her voice has also changed. A deep, husky voice with a low growl attached. How on Earth did she mess up this bad?
Not a moment later a creature walked through the door. Her arms and legs were covered in spikes, five huge horns protruded from her forehead and she had hooves for feet. Her hands also were the same large claws as Janica’s, but she had stained dark blood on hers.
“Oh, hello. You’re the newest demon. Welcome to Hell. Would you like a tour? We can start with our torture chamber, and you can pick out instrument for inflicting pain. As our newest demon you get-” she paused tilting her head, a soft rattling accompanying her head movements. “You seem confused, were you not intending to come to Hell?”
“No! Why am I here? I was trying to be a super hot athlete!” Janica tried to cry, but realized she couldn’t so she just huffed loudly.
“Oh, a body swap? Did you follow the instructions? They’re very clear about the rules. You give us your soul, you swap bodies while on Earth, and then when you die you come here. You spend the next eternity as a demon torturing the souls of the damned for our Dark Lord.”
“I never got to spend any time on Earth, I blacked out and now I’m here. Something must’ve gone wrong.” Janica stated between huffs.
The demon frowned at Janica and proceeded to pull out a scroll from seemingly nowhere. Her wide yellow eyes began scanning the pages.
“Oh, I see now. You took shortcuts. Wow, you brought a rat you didn’t even kill? You know what happens when you take short cuts? You get punished for being disrespectful. Hell is your punishment.”
Janica pleaded “Wait, no you see I was going to make it up and I-”
The demon placed a finger to her own cracked blackened lips.
“Shhhh, it’s okay. I understand. We make mistakes that’s what made you human, and now that’s what made you a demon. Would you like to plead your case to the Dark Lord? If he doesn’t like what you say, you will become one of the damned, or you can embrace your life here as a demon. What will it be?”
Janica thought long and hard about her options. This was not at all what she had planned. This was all wrong. But she was here now, and she highly doubts the Dark Lord would hear her out.
“What kinds of torture equipment do we have?”
The demon smiled at her and walked up to her, placing her large hands on the area that used to be Janica’s shoulder, but was now a weird mush mound.
“You know what?” the demon gripped her other mushy shoulder, “Try again.” She harshly shoved Janica back, and instead of hitting the wall she fell through the ground. Once again Janica saw stars, horns, flames then darkness.
She woke up on her floor, the ritual hadn’t started. None of the candles had been lit and nothing was on the altar. The mirror was still covered. She has been given a second chance from the demon?
“Hell yes! I can do things differently. I can change my fate!” Janica rejoiced, touching her face, running her hands through her own curly hair, enjoying her own fleshy human body.
“Now, how many candles do I need for this? Let’s do it right this time.”
